One year prior to each IAPSO Assembly, the Secretary General of IAPSO will call for nominations for the award. Nominations must be sent to the Secretary General within three months.

Prince Albert I Medal recipient 2015 - Toshio Yamagata

Toshio Yamagata, Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo and Director of Application Laboratory, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokohama City 236-0001, Japan, is the Prince Albert I Medal recipient 2015: ‘For his ground-breaking work and exceptional contribution to our understanding of El Niño/Southern Oscillation and the newly discovered Indian Ocean Dipole’.

Toshio Yamagata, is a pioneer and leader in ocean-atmosphere interaction dynamics, who has made ground-breaking contributions to our understanding of climate variability. In his early career he made fundamental contributions to this emerging field of research and introduced the concept of coupled ocean-atmospheric instability. He showed that when the two media meet, their interaction gives rise to new instabilities that in many aspects, resemble El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Subsequently, he has profoundly influenced work on tropical ocean-atmosphere interactions and tropical climate variability and predictability. In a landmark paper in Nature in 1999, he and his group published a seminal paper entitled “A dipole mode in tropical Indian Ocean” that has fundamentally changed our understanding of the role of the Indian Ocean in climate variability. This work essentially created a new subfield of tropical climate research and laid the foundation for seasonal climate predictions in the Indian Ocean sector.

In short his contribution toward expanding our understanding of the oceans and climate system are truly exceptional, he is a very worthy recipient of the 8th Prince Albert I Medal.

Prince Albert I Medal recipient 2013 - Arnold L. Gordon

Prof. Arnold L. Gordon, Lamont Associate Director, Division of Ocean and Climate Physics, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, USA, is the Prince Albert 1 Medal recipient 2013: "For his outstanding contribution in observational oceanography and in particular for his work in defining the physical processes in the Southern Ocean and Indonesian Throughflow”.

Arnold L. Gordon epitomizes the golden age of physical oceanography as a fundamentally observational science. Almost alone, he drove the observational program in the Southern Ocean (SO) in succession to the explorers of the early 20th Century. The recent emergence of the SO as a critical component of the climate system is testimony to Arnold’s foresight extending back nearly 50 years. The Eltanin observations, in particular, will be his monument. We owe most of our knowledge of the important oceanography of the Indonesian Archipelago to Arnold’s tenacity in overcoming scientific, logistical, and political obstacles. He pioneered studies of Agulhas eddies, in which his early use of satellite altimetry excited wider interest in this new technology.

The Award ceremony took place during the Joint IAHS, IAPSO, IASPEI Assembly in Gothenburg, Sweden, 22 - 26 July 2013. It was followed by the Memorial Lecture by the Awardee: Large scale impact of the Indonesian Throughflow.

Previous Recipients of the Prince Albert I Medal

In partnership with the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans, Prince Rainier of Monaco has established the Prince Albert I Medal in the physical and chemical sciences of the oceans. This medal is named in honor of the late Prince Albert I of Monaco who, in 1919, organized the Oceanography Section of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. He also served as first president of that section. The medal is awarded biannually by IAPSO at its Assemblies. Recipients of the medal have been

2001 Dr. Walter Munk

2003 Dr. Klaus Wyrtki

2005 Prof. Dr. Friedrich Schott

2007 Dr. Russ Davis

2009 Prof. Harry L. Bryden

2011 Dr. Trevor McDougall

Background to the Award for Excellence in the Physical Sciences of the Oceans

The International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) has a long and distinguished history, starting in 1919, the year when the Association was established thanks to the vision and passion for the oceans of His Most Serene Highness Prince Albert I of Monaco. On 28 July 1919, in fact, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) was founded in Brussels, Belgium. At that meeting, a section for Physical Oceanography was formed with Prince Albert I as its first President. Since then, the Physical Oceanography section of IUGG has evolved, becoming first the Association for Physical Oceanography in 1929; the International Association of Physical Oceanography in 1945; and finally IAPSO in 1967

In September 2000, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli, then the IAPSO President, wrote to HMSH Prince Rainier III of Monaco proposing the establishment of an award named for Prince Albert I to recognize his pioneering and extraordinary contributions to, and support of, Physical Oceanography. Prince Rainier III's answer was enthusiastic; he offered to present a most eminent scientist with the "Medal for Excellence in the Physical Sciences of the Oceans - IAPSO - Foundation Rainier III", engraved with this citation on one side and with the name of the laureate on the other. An official protocol was established and ratified by the Prince in February 2001. The Medal is awarded to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the enhancement and advancement of the physical and/or chemical sciences of the oceans. It is offered at every IAPSO General Assembly, every other year, to a most prominent scientist chosen by a specially appointed IAPSO Award Committee.

Protocol of Prince Albert I Medal

1. The Prince Albert I Medal shall be awarded to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the enhancement and advancement of the physical and/or chemical sciences of the oceans. 2. The Medal shall be awarded once every two years in conjunction with the IAPSO Assemblies starting in 2001 with the IAPSO Assembly in Argentina. 3. The Medal shall be awarded only once to the same scientist. 4. The Award Committee shall total six to eight members appointed by the IAPSO Executive Committee. Its responsibility is to select suitable candidates for the award. The Chair of the Award Committee shall be one of the IAPSO Vice Presidents. 5. The term of each Award Committee shall be for one award period. The membership of the Award Committee should change between one award and the next. The Committee shall include the Chair of the previous committee and the previous medalist as ex-officio members. Some members may serve for more than one period, provided that the majority is new members. If any member of the Committee is nominated for the award, he or she shall be excused as a member of the Committee and a substitute shall be found. 6. One year prior to each IAPSO Assembly, the Secretary General of IAPSO will call for nominations for the award. Nominations must be sent to the Secretary General within three months of the announcement and must be accompanied by substantive supporting documentation, consisting of a cover letter which states why the person should be considered to get the award (about 100 words - this is essentially a citation), a 2-3 page CV. A 2-3 page list of best publications, and three letters of support. The Chair of the Award Committee shall prepare a list of candidates for the Medal from the nominations received. The Award Committee may not add its own nominations to the list. 7. The Award Committee shall select from the list of nominations a suitable candidate for the Medal on the basis of the significance of each nominee’s contributions as a whole to the enhancement and advancement of the physical and/or chemical sciences of the oceans. Any unsuccessful in a given competition may be re-considered a second time for the medal in the next competition. The Secretary General should contact previous nominators to ask if they wish their unsuccessful candidate to be reconsidered. If so the nominator shall be given the opportunity to update the nomination. 8. The Chair of the Award Committee shall submit to the President of IAPSO its decision regarding the choice of the medalist. Only one candidate shall be recommended for the award at a time, as there is provision only for one Medal. However, a second choice could also be identified in case of difficulties. It is the responsibility of the President to promptly notify the successful candidate and the proposer of the award. Once the award has been accepted the President shall promptly notify H.S.H Prince Albert II (ore his successor) and all nominators of the award. It is the responsibility of the Secretary General to promptly notify the Executive Committee and the scientific community of the award. If, from the list of nominations, the Award Committee finds that there is no suitable candidate of sufficient high standard, it may, at its discretion, recommend that no award be made. 9. The Award Committee shall be responsible for preparing an appropriate citation to accompany the award of the Medal. 10. The Award Committee will conclude its work within three months of the reception of the nominations from the Secretary General. 11. The award ceremony shall be held at an IAPSO Assembly, where the recipient shall deliver a Prince Albert I Medal Memorial Lecture. 12. Changes to the above guidelines may only be made by the IAPSO Executive Committee. Any changes must then be ratified at the next Assembly, following which they will become effective. The Protocol was established on February 8, 2001. The revised Protocol was approved at the 2005 IAPSO Assembly in Australia. The proposed revisions were approved at the 2007 IAPSO Assembly in Italy. The revised Protocol was approved at the 2009 IAPSO Assembly in Canada.